UP Polls Live: Phase 5 polling ends with over 57% voter turnout

The fifth phase polling for UP assembly elections has come to an end with 57.36% voter turnout recorded by 5 PM. There are a total of 52 constituencies in the fifth phase, spread across 11 districts. These districts include Gonda, Balrampur, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar (earlier Mau), Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur. However, polling was conducted only for 51 constituencies, as voting in Alapur has been postponed due to the death of candidate Chandrashekhar Kanaujia, who belongs to Samajwadi Party (SP).

In the fifth phase of UP assembly elections, a total of 608 candidates are in fray. 43 percent of the candidates have education between class 5th and 12th standard whereas those holding graduate and above degrees constitute 47 percent. 38 candidates are just literates and 9 candidates are illiterate.

The total number of eligible voters is 18.4 million, which includes 9.6 million women. Heavy security arrangements were made for the fifth phase polling, which ensured that the polling was carried out peacefully. More than 1,600 hamlets and over 2,300 polling stations were tagged as sensitive and security was especially tight at these locations.